Comet C/2022 E3 should be bright enough to spot with binoculars and possibly even the unaided eye. It made its closest approach to the sun last week and it will be closest to the earth in two weeks, so now and for the next few weeks it’ll be as bright as it will get. Predictions […]
It’s notoriously hard to predict the brightness of a comet far in advance as each one has its own composition, orbit, and characteristics, but there’s an excellent chance that a comet discovered less than a year ago will become bright enough to see with binoculars, certainly with a small telescope, and possibly even to the […]
Venus is slowly returning to the evening sky after a long sojourn behind the sun. It passed Mercury last week, and this winter and spring it’ll pass, in turn, Saturn (January 22), Neptune (February 14 and 15), Jupiter (March 5), Uranus (March 29 and 30), and it will almost catch Mars in late June; plus […]
I focus on the moon and planets because that’s where most of the action is; they make it interesting to follow motions and changes in the sky. This week, but not next, all 5 naked-eye planets plus the two telescopic ones are visible in the evening sky, and that’s highly unusual. Here’s where they are. […]
All five naked-eye planets are out and in the evening sky this week and next if you have a dead flat southwest horizon and binoculars. And the moon joins them from the 24th. Here’s how to see them. Two planets are brighter than any stars and they dominate the evening sky. They are Mars and […]
THE astronomical event this week is the finest meteor shower of the year. Although it’s the year’s best, few people watch it for the simple reason that it’s COLD in mid-December. Still, curious minds want to stay informed. The shower is called the Geminids because the meteors radiate from the direction of the constellation Gemini, […]
Mars headlines the astronomy news this month. It was closest to earth on December 1 and at opposition on December 8. The meaning of “closest” is intuitive, while opposition is when Mars and the sun are precisely 180° opposite in the sky. These two dates would coincide if the orbits of earth and Mars were […]
Every 26 months the earth catches and passes Mars, which being more distant from the sun moves slower in its orbit. On the 30th we’re as close to Mars as we will come this time around, and then Mars is 50 million miles distant. Mars has been getting brighter and rising earlier, and now it’s […]
This week we’re back to planets, with a challenge! Read on. Three bright planets are in the evening sky. Don’t take this for granted – in a few months there will be none. In order of brightness they are Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. Jupiter is the brightest thing in the night sky other than the […]
An unusual meteor shower happens this week, and although we’re not likely to see much the story is interesting. Meteor showers happen when the earth passes near the orbit of a comet that has been shedding dust. That dust follows in the orbit of the comet, and when we plow through it, the dust falls […]
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